NHS now saying stuff is free.

[MixMaxChop]

Dear Mrs Chop

Welcome to NHS breast screening. We would like to invite you for your free mammograms. We have made you an appointment in a hospital that is not local to you in the arse end of a city that does not have any access from the railway station and parking is strictly limited and none of your previous mammograms have ever been in this city before but that’s not the point.

Free??

A) it isn’t free. My NHS contributions have paid for this many times over.

B) Surely “free” is the whole point of the NHS

C) are they craftily prepping us to have to start paying for services now in a stealth move to privatise the NHS?

Yabu but you know that.

I'm guessing they're stressing that it's free is one way to encourage take up of the screening programme.

It is likely because people aren't turning up and they want to try and remove any perceived barriers to attending.

They are just trying to encourage people to attend for screening. It's free at the point of delivery. Everyone entitled to NHS care can attend. They are just trying to encourage uptake.

"Free" seems a reasonable simplification as "We would like to invite you for your free-at-the-point-of-delivery-but-of-course-your-taxes-have-contributed-a-variable-amount-to-the-pot-of-money-from-which-they're-funded mammograms" doesn't scan very well.

They are challenging a perceived barrier for people on a low income to attend screening. Not everything is a party political point. Not everything is about you.

It’s obviously to stop people from denying the offer out of fear it’ll cost money. It’s just being clear that they don’t have to pay. Not everyone is British born and they may assume these things will cost so don’t go.

Don't be daft. You are not paying a 250£ fee.
It is free to you at point of service.
Go private if you prefer
You do not pay your own personal fee into nhs it comes out of general taxes NI etc

FFS just go to your mammogram or don’t and be fucking grateful.

Also an individual’s NHS contributions don’t touch the sides of making the NHS free.

C) are they craftily prepping us to have to start paying for services now in a stealth move to privatise the NHS?

That makes you sound like a conspiracy theorist. The more likely explanation is that they are making it clear that this isn't like a dentist or optician where you have to pay extra, to encourage as many as possible to take up the screening offer.

when i went for mine last time, the nurse said on average a third of bookings don't turn up - maybe making it clear it's free (at point of scan) might help address that?

honestly. no big deal.

I have had quite a few mammograms already and it has never been described as free before. Thank you for your concern but I do attend regular screenings.

Surely people know how the NHS works, as in free at the point of delivery for just about everything?

I take more of an issue with: We have made you an appointment in a hospital that is not local to you in the arse end of a city that does not have any access from the railway station and parking is strictly limited and none of your previous mammograms have ever been in this city before but that’s not the point and I will add 'we have assumed that you are free at 11 am on a Tuesday in 3 week's time for a non urgent appointment' instead of implementing an online choose and book system that would make it so much easier for everyone. We have contacted you by letter because the post is cheaper and more reliable (not, obviously) than email, which just about everyone else now uses as there preferred form of communication for such matters.

I get what you're saying. But I think the aim here is to make take up is as high as possible by using crystal clear, unambiguous and simple language so there can be no doubt that they will not have to pay.

I think this trumps pedants saying "hurummph - hardly free is it? Seen the tax I've paid over the years? rah rah rah" as much as it might nark you.

Why can't you just be grateful you don't have to pay extra like most people in other countries have to do? It is free at point of delivery. Do you really care about arguing semantics! A bit of a waste of time and energy!

They're describing it as 'free' because, although you happen to know it's free, not everyone does and making that clear from the outset encourages take-up of the service.

So, YAB ridiculously U.

@MixMaxChop are you saying that there is absolutely no scope to change the appointment to a more convenient location or time? I find that surprising. I had a similar letter last week and there were options. I’m happy to travel to receive potentially life saving screening.

The NHS has to try to accommodate everyone. Not just you. If you want a more bespoke service you do have the option of either not taking the screening up or accessing it privately, which will definitely not be free.

It would be ludicrous to think that people are not going because they're assuming that there's an unmentioned fee that they're going to be stung with when they turn up.

The NHS is mostly free at the point of delivery and people know when it isn't (dentistry).

If someone is concerned that it will cost them money, they could ask.

People won't be going because they can't be arsed, are too busy, don't have childcare, are worried it will hurt/be embarrassing stripping off in front of a stranger/worried that they'll get bad news so rather avoid the issue. Not because they don't want to pay a non existent fee that there's no suggestion that exists anyway.

People will be voting in the guys who will privatise the NHS, cause they ‘don’t want multiculturalism’, so we might as well start getting used to the idea.

You know perfectly well what they mean by free - I would also suggest it’s to encourage take up.
if you can’t get to the location they’ve given or at the time, give them a call and ask for it to be changed. That’s what I did when I received mine recently. It was changed with no issue.

Yy.

If truly accurate it would read "We have sent this letter by second class post. Prior to it reaching Royal Mail it was in a plastic collection tub for three weeks. This ensures that it will reach you ten days after your appointment at which point you will be discharged from our clinic because you are a lumpen proletariat time wasting degenerate who is single handedly running the beloved heroic health service into the ground by your persistent refusal to attend and take any kind of responsibility for your own health".

It is to emphasise that there is no cost to you at the point of delivery. I see loads of ads for health checks, screenings and treatments from commercial providers which aren't free. Hearing tests and advanced retina scans are just two that I've seen this week.

If it’s at a hospital where you have to pay for parking then it’s not free.
In my area there are mobile screening units set up on supermarket or shopping area car parks where parking is free, far better than the hell of trying to find somewhere to park at the hospital.

You are being deliberately obtuse, OP and your points 1&2 are somewhat contradictory.

It's free because they're giving your data to Palintir.